Neighboring Studio Becomes a Crash Pad for Guests

Gabriel Flores and husband Thomas often host their families from Mexico and Nebraska, sometimes for months at a time. As the couple have been living in a one-bedroom condo for 16 years, their guests had to settle into a life of splaying out in the living room with all their possessions.

Fed up, the couple looked around for a two-bedroom apartment so their families would feel more comfortable. But everything they looked at was either too expensive or too slick for their taste, lacking the character of their converted Art Deco hotel building in the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco.

BEFORE: One day they bumped into their neighbor from across the hall and learned he was putting his studio apartment on the market. Gabriel and Thomas took a quick tour of the unit and considered what they could do with the dated kitchen and worn-out cabinetry. Confident they could turn the place into something special, they bought it and began remodeling.


AFTER: They worked with Matt Bailey to gut the space and remodel it with durable, rustic finishes that they wouldn’t mind getting scratched. “Our apartment is a little too fancy for people,” Gabriel says. “We wanted the studio to be a little more rustic, so that if someone scratches something, we wouldn’t care about it.”

The cabinet doors are what first catches guests’ attention. They’re roughed-up reclaimed wood from nearby Petaluma. Because the couple wanted to get a range hood in the kitchen, that meant standard cabinet doors that swing open wouldn’t work — a swing-out door on the far right would have slammed against the vent hood. Bailey came up with the idea to put the doors on a track system, just like barn doors.

Gabriel had wanted a chalkboard wall since he was a kid. When guests come to visit, they leave messages on the wall for the couple.

The flooring is terrazzo tile made to mimic marble.

Bar stools: Vintage Industrial; cabinet and door handles: Restoration Hardware; flooring: classic terrazzo, Fritztioe; cabinet barn doors: custom, Heritage Salvage; track and roller hardware: Real Siding Hardware; cabinet barn door handles: Rustica Hardware; backsplash tile: Galleria Tile; range hood: Cavaliere; sink: Avado undermount, Elkay; pendant lights: Hawk and Stone


To gain a bit more space and to add a range top and oven, the Floreses swapped out a full-size fridge for a mini undercounter unit. “In San Francisco everyone is living tight,” Bailey says. “Any way that you can acquire more space or comfort, that’s the way to go.”

Gabriel sourced all the materials and furnishings, scouring online for deals on pieces that weren’t too precious, such as standard white subway tile, a stainless steel sink and durable heat- and stain-resistant Caesarstone countertops. “We didn’t want to make it too pretty,” he says.


When guests aren’t in town, the Floreses use the 18th-floor studio as their home office or just for a change of scenery. “Sometimes we just like the different view,” Gabriel says. “We’ll have our morning coffee in there. It feels more relaxed.”


BEFORE: A built-in bed platform tried to act as an entryway partition, but the homeowners wanted something that would really impress visitors when they walked in.


AFTER: Graphic wallpaper and a reclaimed-sono-wood headboard established a more welcoming vibe.

Headboard and bed frame: Dekayu; wallpaper: Anthropologie; carpet: California Carpet; bedside table: Restoration Hardware; coat tree: Aldea

More: See 8 stylish mutitasking studios

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